First Year!

Hey, I know there are a lot of first years out there reading this, about to start UBC. I remember counting down the days until I finally got to UBC. When you go to a new school it is always a big transition. You are probably that kid in high school who got the best grades in class, and had people asking you if they could ‘look at your homework.’ The biggest thing that changes from high school to university is expectations. I know the cutoff my year for UBC Science was a 92, I don’t know if it went down or up this year..? Regardless you may become the person asking ‘hey can I take a look at your homework.’ Because most students were top of their classes in High School. I can honestly say first semester is the hardest. I can’t really say first year is harder than second year until I experience it, if there are students who have completed 2nd year, let me know is it harder or easier than first year? You meet about 100000 people your first week at UBC. I think I remembered like 5 people I met first week, so it can get overwhelming. I remember introducing/meeting people first week in my courses and then after that no one talked to eachother unless you knew eachother ha. I have already done a tips for first year’s post, but on a side note things to try to mainatin are good, supportive people around you. UBC is a competitive school, and you will run into those few people who secretely want you to fail, or don’t like to help you anyway academically… I’m just saying!

Now as for my summer studying, I planned to study like a maniac this summer and learn the details of most of my courses this summer. Everyone told me, ‘Binta it is impossible to study that hard in the summer.’ Well for the first 2 months it was going great. I went really slow, and gave myself time to absorb everything. For Chem 233 I studied up to alkyne mechanisms, so for the first midterm I should be pretty solid. The most important thing I wanted was a headstart, and I think I accomplished that. This week I’ll be taking practice midterms myself timed, and see if I retained the information well. For Biol 200, it went slowly, I read A LOT. I’ll be taking a few practice midterms this weekend as well. I think I mentioned this, but I got a fulltime job, 40hrs/week, and let’s say the studying took a little backseat. This is the first time I have worked this many hours so I didn’t accomplish as much I wanted to academically. I also had a lot of changes in t
erms of courses so I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t preparing for courses I wouldn’t be taking. Here are the finalized courses I will be taking this semester are:

Biol 200
Biol 204
Chem 233
Chem 235
Clst 301

*Update – I am soooo sad Jackie Stewart isnt teaching chem..she consistently has the best avg’s and did i mention she allowed a GROUP midterm for the summer section -______________________________________________________________________-

From what I’ve heard and seen Biol200 and Chem 233 are the hardest of this bunch. So I’m glad those are the two I focused on this summer. I’m going to kick things into gear im hoping to finish 3 midterms for biol 200 and chem 233 this summer and see where I am at, what my weaknesses are, etc.

And I debated this, because I have a lot of last minute things to do (getting a phone, moving and unpacking) but I will be attending imagine day. Hope to pick up tons of free swag, and of course learn more about resources available to us at UBC ;]

I have not blogged in forever, so here is a quick update

Summer is almost over! My summer has certainly been a whirlwind. I took online courses, but ended up dropping them when I saw that I just didn’t have the time to do well, so I will tackle them as electives at UBC. I worked at an internet marketing firm, and it was a great, learning experience, and now school is just around the corner.

Everything happened last minute for certain reasons, so I JUST started looking for a place to live less than a week ago. This was so nerveracking because if I don’t find a place, then I’d have no way to go to UBC. Luckily I found a good enough place, thats close enough the school (<40min bus/train) so I sent the deposit so I could breathe haha. Now I'm just trying to figure out how I'm getting all my stuff over there without help. *Just a side note when I came to Toronto on my birthday I was 25min away from the gate but thats "late" for Air Canada and I bought another ticket -__- So I really want to make sure things go smooth 🙂 Now on to courses, I've been getting emails from first years, and I accidentally deleted a bulk of my email, my inbox is like 4000+ and i haven't gotten around to cleaning it up, I'm like an email hoarder. So I'm not ignoring you! Just resend it and I'll respond asap 🙂 I don't know when first years move into their residences (Place Vanier/Totem) but I will definitely put up a post about all that and more first year info tomorrow, as well as all my pre-second year details! Hope everyone has enjoyed their summer 🙂

So on July 31, 2011, I had the privilege of attending Drake’s annual OVO Fest in Toronto. Now this show has been sold out for 2 months, and I didn’t have any tickets. On ticketmaster it showed that there were a few seats, but nothing less than $300 for mediocre seats, but they were only selling pairs. I am Drake’s biggest fan, and I was determined to atleast be at the venue and see him. I went to venue like 5 hours before the show, and was told by the lady at the box office that site I was on was a scalpers website, and that tickets had been sold out for 2 months. So be careful when going on ticketmaster that your pop blocker is on, or else you may be redirected to a scalper website.

Anyways she told me that there MAY be releases, and if I wanted a chance I would have to stay at the box office, and that there was a guy ahead of me waiting. So 1.5 hours later there was a release and the guy ahead of me got two tickets. All I could think was ‘why couldnt he get one!’ Well 2.5 hours later there was another release and I got tickets! The ladies at the box office said they fought for me to get the best seats in the house, and they really were! It’s at the Molson Ampitheatre(which is an unbelievable venue), and I got the front row right above the pit, right at the center! It’s the best view I could have possibly got. The people in the pit were closer but had to look up the whole time, and the stage was straight ahead of me, with no heads in the way. I still can’t get over how lucky I was to get those seats.

Well the show opened up with The Weeknd who is an upcoming Toronto artist. He actually performed really well live, he has an amazing voice. After he did the set, Rick Ross came out, and the whole crowd got a bit more in to it, because he has a lot of recognizable songs. Everyone was singing along, it was great! And of course the next act was Drake! I nearly lost my voice screaming when Drake came out. He performed a lot of songs, and I sang along to everyone, and was surprised how everyone sang along to his really obscure songs, Toronto really loves Drake like no other city! Well last year Drake brought out Jay Z and Eminem to the OVO Fest, so even though the show was Drake with Rick Ross and The Weeknd, everyone kind of expected that he would bring out someone. And he sure did.

While Drake was performing he brought out Jcole, and they performed ‘In the Morning’ together. Everyone went crazy when JCole came out, including me, because I’ve met him but never seen a performance. While JCole and Drake were still on stage, Drake then brought out Nas who started with ‘Made You Look.’ I love that everyone knew the lyrics, I love Toronto! Nas performed again, and Drake and JCole were playfully bowing to him, and they all kind of embraced at the end, it was really cute. How many times are you going to see JCole, Nas, and Drake on one stage? I’m guessing that’ll be the last time with all 3.

Drake then continued with a few of his hits, he did Marvin’s Room of course, and also Trust Issues with The Weeknd. After that, I don’t think anyone could have guessed the next performer. He brought out Stevie Wonder! I saw a piano brought on stage, and thought ‘oh Alicia Keys, they have a song together,’ but what a pleasant surprise to see a legend perform for you. It was great and Drake kind of let Stevie shine, which was really nice.

I must add that Drake’s mother sat in front of me, and was bopping her head hella hard to Drake’s ‘Over’! 🙂

Anyways Stevie ended his set, and Drake started singing, and then doing shoutouts! He first went to the right side and gave a few shoutouts to some people in the crowd, then the left…then finally the center. All I know is when that light hit me, I held my hand up, and Drake pointed right at me and said “I see you girl right there with the cute braids and i think stripes on” ALl I know is that I was smiling so hard my teeth hurt, and it was the best moment ever. Honestly I blame my amazing seats, I knew before the show I was getting a shoutout with those seats. When Drake performed Fancy, the light shone on me again, and he pointed at me, and I pointed at him and sang along, best moment ever.

Drake continued his set, and near the end, like last 20 minutes, Lil Wayne like a ninja appeared on stage, and this must have been the loudest I ever heard the crowd react, including me! Even at the end of the concert, Lil Wayne riled up the crowd, and everyone was jumping and singing along. Epic performance, Lil Wayne is an amazing performer, even wearing the most funky pants ever! He performed 6’7 and Rick Ross came out, and they all performed ‘I’m On One,’ and during I’m On One, me and Drake had another moment like the one before, and my face briefly appeared on the huge screen. Amazing! If I ever go back to Molson for a show, I am getting those exact same seats.

The tickets were 95, and EVERY PERFORMANCE WAS LIVE. (I don’t get going to concerts where the artist lip synchs the whole time, might as well listen to the cd). I am so glad I waited for tickets patiently. Stevie Wonder, Nas, Jcole, Rick Ross, The Weeknd, Lil Wayne, and Drake! What a night.